Stagger the pupils logging in to groups of 8 or less at a time

When pupils login, the SL client accesses the database, there by temporarily blocking all other SL clients. This is normally mitigated by a retry mechanism, but if too many pupils attempt to login at the same time, then some fail as they have had to wait longer than the retry period.

The OS is hard coded to limit the number of peer connections a computer can accept. This cannot be changed.
[To increase the number of connections, either change the pseudo server OS to Windows 98 or switch to a client-server network.]

Windows XP Home is limited to 5 concurrent connections

Get pupils to login in groups of 8 or less

When pupils login, the SL client accesses the database, thereby temporarily blocking all other SL clients. This is normally mitigated by a retry mechanism, but if too many pupils attempt to login at the same time, then some fail as they have had to wait longer than the retry period.

If the print dialog appears quickly, it is likely to be either a bottleneck in the network, a slow or busy network server, or insufficient memory in the printer

The software uses the Postscript print language. This requires larger amounts of printer memory to enable swift compilation into a bitmap for the actual printing process. This compilation is performed onboard the printer.

If there is a significant delay before the print dialog appears, then the client/standalone computer is performing slowly and may be taking a long time to write the Postscript file to the print spooler.Also there may be insufficient memory in the printer.

The software uses the Postscript print language. This requires larger amounts of printer memory to enable swift compilation into a bitmap for the actual printing process. This compilation is performed onboard the printer.

It is designed not to do the actual print, but take you back into your work so that you can use the print icon or menus to print the work in the normal ICT manner.

Software was designed this way to help teachers control the amount of printing done by pupils.

Problem can be due to the children being very click happy. When they click print, the print dialog box should be displayed. Before this happens, the children click other buttons on the screen. This sends the printer dialog box to the background while keeping the SL program in the foreground.

User error

Make sure computer is using at least 256 colours and is not in Safe Mode

This error is generated by Director player, and indicates the current (computer) system setup is not meeting the minimum system specification for the software.

Installation has to be done directly on the server or pseudo server computer

This is stated clearly in the user manual

Installation of the SL Server must be to a physical, local drive on the server or pseudo server computer. The installation directory can then be mapped to a network drive letter as appropriate.

This is stated clearly in the user manual

Yes

The software is designed to be installed into the same location, to form an integrated suite.

Likely to be pupils not entering their username or passwords correctly

Pupils names must be exactly as registered by their teacher/ADMIN, including spaces and any other punctuation. Likewise for the password, which is their class name.
Advise schools not to use spaces or other punctuation in their class names and to choose the class name they register with care.
e.g. use "1AR" instead of class "1AR"

None available.

This is a bug with the software. The problem has been outsourced to an independent organisation to rectify the problem.

No

MSI is Microsoft's standard installation program, and some programs are supplied as .msi files for installation (as opposed to .exe files).
Smart Learning use their own installer built on Macromedia Director to give cross-platform support. Although there is no MSI version of the installer, there is a way to create your own MSI file. The client installation only puts a folder with two files into the directory c:\programs\smart learning\. The contents of the installation is the same for each workstation. This means you can make an .msi file based on the two SL files.

No.

The assessed activities are short and can easily be completed in a single lesson. As they are assessed, it is appropriate to complete them in a single sitting and the software has been designed to operate in this manner.

Create a new pupil for each year required, using a suitable naming convention.

The data model assigns a single year for each pupil, so a separate pupil name is needed for each year. A suitable naming convention is to use the pupil's 'standard' name suffixed by the year number.
e.g. "Jo Bloggs" would be registered as "Jo Bloggs3" for his year 3 work

Depends on OS and deployment mode – see below for details

There is no uninstall program or entry in Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs

1. delete the Smart Learning directory (and all of it contents and sub-directories)
2. delete the file SLuserdata.ini in the Windows or Winnt directory

On the Server:
1. delete the Smart Learning directory (and all of its contents and sub-directories)
2. delete the file SLuserdata.ini in the Windows or Winnt directory

On the client(s), delete the Smart Learning directory (and all of its contents)

This needs repeating for all client computers

Copy all files in the DB sub-directory of the Smart Learning installation. These can then be copied back to the same location to restore the user data.

This can be done to save re-entering or loosing user data during a reinstall.

NB: if reinstall involves adding extra years over previous installation, restore the database to the new installation before installing the extra years.

Depends on OS:
• Win 98: yes, as this OS does not impose any connection limits
• Win 2000 Pro, XP Pro: No. Max number of peers is 10, plus a user on the pseudo server.
• Win XP Home: No. Max number of peers is 5, plus a user on pseudo server

Limitation set by OS on pseudo server. Windows flavour on client computers does not impact limits.